When indexing documents, search engines may assign weights to different parts of the documents for ranking documents identified as satisfying a search query. For example, a search query word that occurs in the title of a document can be given more weight than if the word occurs in another part of a different document. The heavier weighted document can be ranked higher in a list of returned search results.
As is typical, the application of weights to various parts of a document can be performed manually by a user. For example, the user can analyze the formatting in a document (e.g., text sections, font style, author, etc.) to determine an order of importance to each part of the document or format of the document. The determined order of importance can be used to assign a particular weight to each section or portion of the document. The weighted documents can then be indexed according to an assigned weight.